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Did CNN create a self-fulfilling prophecy on November 8? Not even Fox saw a close race

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U.S. TV & print news, January 1 – November 8, 2016

New York, November 15, 2016. As the media starts to take a closer look into what went wrong in this year’s election – including their role in serving the public with relevant information for voters – the coming weeks are the right time to not too quickly rush into the next phase, but to finally do the research necessary to understand what happened on November 8.

Five issues that need addressing before the Electoral College vote on December 19 which officially concludes the 2016 Presidential election:

1) While FOX called Trump on November 8 at around 6pm to say that they would likely announce Hillary Clinton as the winner of the 2016 Presidential Elections by 10pm, CNN presented the election as a close race. Media audiences need to see the basis of these reporting choices as no other media outlet - nor any election professionals – were aware of data backing the CNN thesis. After having sold advertising for the whole day, CNN needed an Election Day that was close or else they faced the possibility of a weak audience. But when the race is declared close, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Was this the case in 2016?.

2) Why did Wolf Blitzer anchor in such a way as to press John King into answers that favored the GOP? Why did Blitzer not wait to hear answers from the experts lined up in the CNN studio?

3) In 2000, CNN declared Gore as having won Florida when this was not backed up by the vote. They had to change this incorrect call, but took 30 minutes to change the state back to too close to call. During those 30 minutes, more than 3 million text messages were sent to Gore supporters who still had the opportunity to vote and impact voter behavior. Why did CNN do this again in 2016?

4) Twitter and other social media platforms have an interest in disclosing what happened on November 8 in regards to both campaigns in order to avoid further rumors that they were part of any voter manipulation.

5) What was the impact of Trump crowds standing with baseball bats in front of voting stations and driving to regions with high shares of Clinton supporters to yell at and threaten them?

This research examined 64,600 reports on politicians on five U.S. TV news programs and in 8 opinion-leading print publications during this years U.S Presidential campaign, and 14,506 lines of data on presidential candidates in previous elections, 2000 – 2012.

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